education policy analysis archives

EPAA/AAPE is a peer-reviewed, open-access, international, multilingual, and multidisciplinary journal designed for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and development analysts concerned with education policies. EPAA/AAPE accepts unpublished original manuscripts in English, Spanish and Portuguese without restriction as to conceptual and methodological perspectives, time or place. EPAA/AAPE publishes issues comprised of empirical articles, commentaries, and special issues at roughly weekly intervals, all of which pertain to educational policy, with direct implications for educational policy.

Danny Wildemeersch is Full Professor of Social and Intercultural Pedagogy at the University of Leuven in Belgium. Before, he was a full professor of Social Pedagogy and Andragogy'at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. He is head of the Centre for Research on Lifelong Learning and Participation. His research focuses on intercultural learning, learning and social participation, intercultural dialogue, learning and citizenship, environmental learning, transitions from school to work, and participation in development cooperation.

Transitions in a life-world: Looking backward and forward after forty-five years of social pedagogical research and teaching in Leuven.

Danny Wildemeersch

Abstract

The paper presents the author’s reflection on research and teaching over a period of 45 years in a social pedagogy program in the Leuven University (Belgium). While the case is interesting in its own right, it holds broader significance for its contribution to understanding developments in education, adult and community education and social work both in disciplinary terms and regarding practice. It presents the theoretical sources of inspiration from diverse linguistic, cultural, policy and academic contexts. The chronology is organized in four periods marked by turning points that were influenced by internal and external events. The first phase is the pioneering phase. The second is the crisis and recovery phase. The third is the multiplicity phase, and the last phase is that of reinvention. The paper also reflects on some of the major themes and issues that have directed developments in social and cultural pedagogy (both old and recent) such as issues of language, the emergence of a lifelong learning discourse, and the notions of community, solidarity and criticality.

Keywords

social and cultural pedagogy; historical transformations; adult education; youth education; social work